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"Apparently unique, previously unrecorded in printed form ; with a highly important section citing Torres' reports of his voyage ... Kelly was able to describe this Memorial, which he speculated may have been the prototype of the Eighth Memorial, only from a manuscript copy held at the Biblioteca Central, Barcelona".

Fourth in the series of fourteen known Quirós' presentation memorials. Quirós wrote about fifty memorials addressed to the King Philip III of Spain describing the wonders of the lands he had discovered and requesting Royal support to organize a new expedition to the Southern hemisphere. The majority of them were manuscripts, but fourteen were printed between 1607 and 1614 at Quirós' expense for presentation at the Council of the Indies. Circulation of all memorials was restricted to the King, ministers and Councils of State, of War and the Indies. When it was learnt in 1610 he was distributing them beyond the court the King ordered all memorials to be recalled. The Eighth Memorial 'escaped' the Spanish borders and was translated into various languages. These so-called "presentation memorials" - to be distinguished from later derivative printings which appeared throughout Europe - are among the most valuable of all printed Australiana. In the fourth Presentation Memorial "Quirós makes 5 points in favour of establishing a settlement in the Austral Lands: (i) their great extent, population, fertility, fruits, etc.; (ii) the innumerable native population, whose conversion to the Christian faith should be a first carte; as also the untold wealth in gold; (iii) that from the Indies and especially from Peru, where there is a superfluity of people, a sufficient number could be secured to form a settlement; (iv) that the possession of all these lands and the propagation of the Christian Faith belongs by right to the king; and (v) that the Austral Lands form a quarter part of the world - and he adduces the testimony of the letter of Luis Váez de Torres to support his arguments..." (Kelly).

Notes

Online images available via the State Library of NSW at: http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?itemID=1008776&acmsid=0 ; Digital order number a6308.

Biog Note

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, (Spanish: Pedro Fernández de Quirós, (1563-1615)), was a Portuguese navigator best known for his involvement with Spanish voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. In 1595 he sailed as chief pilot with Mandana's expedition to colonize the Solomon Islands. When Mandana died in Santa Cruz, Quirós brought the fleet through great difficulties to the Philippines. In December 1605, he sailed from Callao, Peru, in command of an expedition to discover the Terra Australis Incognita, the great southern continent thought to exist in the South Pacific Ocean. In May 1606, after finding part of the Tuamotu Archipelago, the northern Cook Islands and Tikopia, the expedition reached the islands later called the New Hebrides. Quirós landed on a large island which he mistook to be the southern continent, and named it Australia del Espiritu Santo (later altered to Austrialia del Espiritu Santo). Here the fleet broke up in unexplained circumstances, Quirós returning to Peru in one ship, and the two others, piloted by Luis Vaez de Torres, resuming the intended voyage to Manila via the Moluccas. Torres successfully reached Manila in May 1607, charting the southern coastline of New Guinea sailing through the strait that now bears his name. Quirós returned to Spain in 1607 and spent the next seven years vainly petitioning Philip III to send him on another expedition.

Mitchell Library copy: The memorial consists of 2 leaves (4 pages) unbound of printed text. The paper is a cream light/medium weight handmade laid. There is a watermark in the centre of the second leaf showing a heart with a cross inside. Inscription at top of right hand margin of last page in iron gall ink (tested) 'Senor Juangomez'.